Hometeam baseball: Millbury wins one for coach Ron Silvestri

If you happened to show up very late for the Millbury High baseball game Monday, you may have thought the Woolies had just won the Central Mass. Tournament, not a regular-season game.

"I've been on this team for three years, and I've never seen us as fired up and excited as we were," sophomore catcher Ryan Ward said. "Before the game, even all day at school, all we could think about was getting that win."

That 3-1 win over Grafton High was historic, the 500th victory for coach Ron Silvestri.

"I usually don't think of milestones, whether it's win 200, 300, 400, but this one was really special because of how much the kids wanted it and worked for it," said Silvestri, who is in his third year at Millbury after racking up 475 wins during a dominant run at Worcester Voke/Worcester Tech. "I think the kids were more excited than I was."

Silvestri is never one to be satisfied.

"No, it's onward toward 600," he said.

Silvestri reminded his team that the most important win they could get would be No. 501 because that would mean the Woolies had won the 10 games necessary to qualify for the postseason for the first time since Silvestri's arrival.

Silvestri doesn't claim to have a secret to his success, but his knowledge of the game and treatment of the players has clearly contributed to each of his victories.

"Ron is one of the best teachers of the game you could ever come in contact with, and that's important," said Tommy Donaghue, a former Burncoat High standout who played for Silvestri in East Side Senior Ruth before becoming his assistant coach 18 years ago. "What separates him is how closely he works with each kid. Your best two or three starters may need some coaching here and there, but it's what he's able to do with the other six or seven guys and the kids who don't start that makes the differences between winning and losing."

Donaghue was impressed on numerous occasions by Silvestri's ability to relate to players during his tenure at Worcester Tech.

"We had some real characters over the years (at Tech)," he said with a laugh. "Ronnie treated every kid with respect and honesty, and they respected him for that."

"I can't say I've ever coached a bad kid," Silvestri said. "There may have been a few here and there who had problems in school or outside of school, but when they came to the field, they were ready to work hard and have some fun. The reward for me, I like to think, is that I've helped some kids along the way with things that went beyond baseball — I try to teach them a little bit about life. Every kid I've ever coached earned their playing time."

Whether at Tech or at Millbury, whether competing for a Central Mass. title or clawing to earn a berth in the postseason, Silvestri has been consistent in two areas — fundamentals and discipline.

"He's a man of his word," Ward said. "If he sets some rules and they're not followed, you're going to get benched. It doesn't matter who you are, and the kids on this team respect that."

Silvestri's attention to detail, according to Ward, is the reason the Woolies are enjoying their best season in years.

"Every single day we work on situational baseball," Ward said. "At the end of games, other teams may cave under pressure, but we're so well prepared that if we lose, it won't be because we made a mental mistake or someone didn't know his job."

Silvestri said he usually reflects on individual years and accomplishment after the season, but, off the top of his head, fondly recalled some of his better Worcester Tech teams, which held a stranglehold on the Colonial Athletic League title for two decades under his leadership.

Led by current Kansas City Royals reliever Tim Collins, Silvestri coached a group at Voke/Tech that won more than 90 games in their four years of varsity baseball.

"It's as much about the teams I've coached than anything else," Silvestri said. "It's been a nice ride. I'm still enjoying it, I still enjoy teaching the game, and these kids keep me young."

Colonial showdown

Tomorrow's meeting between Valley Tech and Assabet Valley in Marlboro should determine the Colonial title in addition to being a rematch between two teams that each have the potential to make a long postseason run.

The Aztecs (12-1) have gone largely unnoticed, even after snapping a four-year losing streak to the Beavers earlier this year.

Valley Tech, meanwhile, ripped off six straight after losing, 3-1, to Assabet, pounding its opponents, 62-7, in that span.

Contact Tom Flanagan at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @tgsports.